The UK Government ratified the Unified Patents Court (UPC) Agreement on World IP Day, 26 April 2018. This paves the way for the Unitary Patent System to start from the end of 2018, subject to ratification of the UPC Agreement by Germany.

The UPC Agreement needed ratification by at least 13 EU countries, including France, Germany and UK for the Unitary Patent System to start. So far, 15 countries have ratified, and now only ratification by Germany is required. This is currently delayed by a constitutional challenge in Germany, which is expected to be decided later this year.

Now the UK Government has ratified the UPC Agreement, it seems apparent that UK wishes to be part of the Unitary Patent System after Brexit, and to maintain a branch of the Unified Patents Court in London. This, however, will need to be ironed out during the ongoing Brexit negotiations between the EU and UK.